We all think fairytales were originally written for adults, and some of them were pretty scary and gruesome.

Think of Rumplestiltskin, where the miller's daughter gives her baby to a strange man, or Hansel and Gretel, where the children are originally left to die in the woods before coming across a cannibalistic witch who ends up getting burned alive in the oven. Horrible stuff!

This is something Maggie Millar knows all too well.

Maggie is a wonderful actor, probably best known for her roles in Prisoner, Bellbird and The Sullivans, as well as Neighbours in the early 2000s.

But Maggie is also one of Australia's leading exponents of reading stories aloud, and she's developed a show called Fairytales for Grownups.

"It's not material for children," she says.

Even Cinderella has a darker side.

"There's many different versions of Cinderella. In the one I read, the eyes of the wicked sisters are pecked out by the birds who have helped Cinderella get the tasks done. So it's pretty gruesome."

"They were originally not written, but told... and people like the Brothers Grimm would go around and collect the fairy stories, and they would write them down."

Then, in the salons of Paris in the 1600s, intellectuals adopted fairytales as part of their entertainment.

Maggie joined Fiona Parker in ABC Victoria's studios to talk more about the origin of fairytales and why they are so good to perform and listen to.

Meanwhile, Maggie is performing Fairytales for Grownups in Kyneton at the Red Brick Hall on Saturday July 13th, as well as an up-coming performance at the Bendigo Writers Festival at the Central Deborah Gold Mine on Sunday August 11th.